Exploring the Internet of Things

nternet of Things is not a new notion. It's been proposed in differing forms over a period of more than 10 years. The IoT links uniquely identifiable physical objects (things) to their virtual representations online, which can contain or link to additional information on identity, status, location or any other business, social or privately relevant information. The intention is to provide access to accurate and appropriate information in the right quantity and condition, at the right time and place and at the right price. IBM's strategic Smarter Planet initiative, currently featuring in a mainstream UK TV advertising campaign, has been in place for a number of years. During the course of 2012, ny work as an IBMer has taken me into the world of Smarter Planet and in particular, into the field of Smart Grid and Smart Meters. Influenced by working with a team of experts, particularly Dr Andy Stanford-Clark (IBM's UK CTO for Smarter Energy), I set out to investigate the possibilities of the IoT for myself, determined to be able to talk to the myriad devices I use daily and to have them talk back to me. As a gauge of what can be achieved, I looked into the monitoring and automation that Andy had built into his own home on the Isle of Wight. In a 2012 TEDX talk at Warwick, Andy described how his experimenting moved from the personal to the local to the regional and how he believes that the Internet of Things will evolve as a global system of systems, interconnecting regional smart grids. To start with though, let's talk about some of the attributes of the Internet of Things: Pervasive Computing The IoT is based on the premise of pervasive computing. This means machine to machine communication (m2m) between potentially trillions of devices. These don't have to be just new "smart" devices. The availability of small, simple and low-cost components means that legacy devices can be connected as well. Each devices then exhibits three key characteristics: Instrumented: Sensors are provided to monitor the device operation and collect key data Interconnected: The device has a means of communicating with other devices, or through a hub to deliver its data and receive requests or commands; Intelligent: The device has sufficient memory, storage and processing power to forward the data to an intelligent back end, where it's analysed to form a world view. The ready availability of low-cost compute nodes, such as arduino and nanode and more recently the Raspberry Pi makes it simple to get started with adding these capabilities to existing devices. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7383969